I’ve been to one book club meeting. It was a diverse group of ladies, some professionals, some artists, some stay-at-home moms. There was wine, there were introductions, there was a tacit understanding that it was supposed to be fun. And when it was time to discuss the book at hand — a thought-provoking best-seller, but not exactly an intellectual tour de force — one of the women gulped her merlot and offered, “I found it, like, really existential.” It could have been a scene in The Book Club Play, a comedy by Karen Zacarias that opens at the Kalita Humphreys Theater (3636 Turtle Creek Blvd.) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The book club in question is being filmed by a legendary Dutch filmmaker (think Lars von Trier), and the play raises questions about intellectual snobbery and the line between literature and pop culture. Differing personalities in the club clash and play off one another, portrayed by a talented cast from Dallas Theater Center. Buy your tickets for a chance to read between the lines at dallastheatercenter.org; they range from $15 to $55. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Tuesdays-Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Jan. 1. Continues through Feb. 1, 2015